Tag Archives: Jane Finch

These are the moments when I realize why I do this, on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 TDSB voted to remove SRO Program in all schools, 10 years Community have been saying no to Cops in Schools, since it was imposed onto Targeted schools (45) across the City, The motion was 18-3 to remove the SRO program…. and last night we saw the Magic of Community Action.

In my quest of practicing intentional vulnerability, critical honesty but at the same time imaginative optimism, here is another #journalsofadocuvixen

I know it has been a minute journal fans but it still has up and down emotionally but to be honest I will take where I am now over to where I was last year any day of the week. Taking note of blessings and having gratitude for each day. Ya I know never got to those second reflections, I have them written in a journal on paper tho, will eventually share.

Anyway in the depths of winter, where I was on the usually thinking pattern on what am I going to do for money, and getting another rejection from one of the Arts Councils, got granted a grant, only to be like sorry nope you don’t got it no more. And again contemplating giving up this whole damn art thing for good. I just want to work at a small bookstore kinda thing (ya the 2 of them), began applying for every job out there but haven’t yet received a call back, as yet. Actually this week I was like maybe I should be a postal worker, you know get to walk everywhere, although I don’t think I could do the winters.

Things started to thaw, and Vicky Moufawad-Paul – Director / Curator director of A Space Gallery, contacted me saying that she wanted to program my work in Haiti some how, and the makings of this show began to take form, I met with Rehab around her work, and here we are the Opening is here, at A Space Gallery.

Presented by A Space Gallery in partnership with Trinity Square VideoFacebook Event

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday to Friday 11am – 5pm
Saturday 12pm – 5pm

In Solidarity is a two-person exhibition that features collaborative projects from Malinda Francis and Rehab Nazzal. Francis is a video artist that spent time in Haiti after the earthquake of 2010. She captured a grassroots international and multilingual community moving off the grid and building an “Earthship.” Using recycled materials to rebuild the community school of “Sa-k-la-k-wel”–which translates into “If you survive it, you will see it.”–and set in a picturesque but economically depressed location, the conical structure of the Earthship evokes spaceships that plan to leave earth for a more just future that we create and imagine together. Francis also includes video of Jane Finch Action Against Poverty as she follows them into the 2017 May Day march, an action which seek greater justice right where we are.

Nazzal‘s is a community engaged project of “Cross Stitching Solidarity” using Palestinian embroidery techniques to bring people together at the gallery to make something that is larger then the sum of its parts. Francis and Nazzal, although using disparate visual strategies, both propose a kind of transnational solidarity that implicates, resists, and creates new possibilities for Mikinaakominis/Canada.Facebook Page

BIOGRAPHIES

Malinda Francis (a docuvixen film) is a Toronto based videomaker. Francis’ creation is based in an integrated consent driven process throughout the production period. Her immersed/imbeded community led process includes shared partnership/ownership models with the community members she documents. Malinda Francis has been following Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP), a resident led action group which aims to eliminate poverty, for 9 years. She conceptualizes her work with JFAAP as an ongoing community story-telling project. She has been in production of her feature film called The Diaspora Travels: Haiti for 6 years. This project follows Haitian and diaspora led reconstruction projects after the 2010 Earthquake.

Rehab Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Nazzal holds an MFA from Ryerson University (Toronto), a BFA from the University of Ottawa, and a BA in Economics from Damascus University (Syria). Her video, photography, and sound work deal with representation of violence of war and colonialism. Nazzal’s work has been shown in Canada and internationally in both group and solo exhibitions and screenings. Nazzal is currently pursuing her PhD in Art and Visual Culture at the University of Western Ontario (Canada).

I am slowly defining my process as follows:Ongoing community engagement using film, radio, and media production, imbedded community storytelling. Working to create an integrated consent process throughout the production process, and build community partnership/ownership models with community members. She feels the only way she can tell a story from the point of view of marginalized communities is to immerse oneself in a community, and have shared partnership throughout the production process. This process continues to develop as the work continues.

Digital Project

Film

a docuvixen film
A Film Production Company which has a community centred approach to producing films and collaborates directly with community in all stages of the production. The goal is to support artists and communities to become self-sustaining and autonomous.

The Diaspora Travels: Haiti
Investigating the barriers preventing resources from reaching those who most need them. Uncovering roles that Haitians and Diasporic Haitians play in the `Reconstruction’.

Radio

Artist In the City
a radio show that explores the world of professional working artists of all disciplines in the city of Toronto, and beyond.

Short Film

On The Water
Into Full time into Film and Video Art ilm and video art. So, now I am very interested in Cities and how community is created within it. The boxed like shapes that we live in and contrasted with our natural landscapes.

Where are we
This 5min poetic documentary, follows a lone bike rider through an abandoned city, and this film questions the decay of an North American City, after the fall of industry, and asks the question, Where are We?